Sticks
by singintoyourself
Summary: -One Shot- One drummer's dreams are another drummer's reality. Too bad they're related.


_A/N-So I know I should be focusing on other stories…DYMM and Flip Flop…but I couldn't get this story out of my head. It's a bit darker than my normal work, so I hope you guys like it!_

Sticks

Willow Brooks had one role model in life. Her eldest brother, Ben. Ben was always there for her, no matter what. As the only girl in a family of five, Ben felt the need to protect his baby sister, especially after the death of their mother when Willow was four.

Willow never remembered much about her mother, only that she was a musician who died in a terrible car crash. She remembered the way her mother always sang her to sleep and played many different instruments. As Willow grew up, she wanted to know more and more about her mother. Her father, still depressed over the death of his only love, refused to talk about her. Ben however took it upon himself to get his mother to live on through her only daughter. Ben was a drummer, and he spent the time that he wasn't practicing to teach his sister the ropes of music. He wanted her to play something dainty or girly, like the flute or clarinet, but no, Willow was entranced by drumming. Ben, being the overprotective brother that he was, didn't want his only sister to play an instrument only played primarily by boys. Willow agreed to play the clarinet as well as the drums.

* * *

Willow had defiantly inherited her mother's musical genius. She could pick up instruments and have a good grasp on how to play them, whether they were woodwind, brass, or percussion. She tried her hardest at music to try and please her brother, her inspiration. Her success had the opposite effect on the now teenage Ben. He grew annoyed that his younger sister could play more instruments then he could, and was better at rudiments then he was. When Ben was a freshman and Willow was in seventh grade, Ben joined the marching band.

The Sycamore Falls High School Marching Band was an eighty person band with a rather successful past. There were some seasons better then others, but over all, it was a place for Ben to finally be better than his sister. No one knew of Willow Brooks at the high school, only of Ben Brooks, bass drummer. Ben felt better now that he was the only Brooks known for music at this school.

Well, for two years at least.

Ben finally made the jump from bass drum to snare his junior year when Willow entered the high school as a freshman. He and his sister had had a bit of a falling out over the past two years over their passion for music, which left Willow more alone than what she ever had been before. Ben couldn't stand that his sister was a better musician than him. Willow still respected and loved her older brother with all her heart, even though the same could not be said for Ben's feelings for his sister. Ben did all he could to ignore his sister as she walked into the band room, but his section mates didn't help.

"Dude, who's the hot redhead?" One of the tenors asked. Ben whipped around to face him. "That's my sister." He growled. The tenor backed down, a look of fear on his face. The look quickly turned from fear to excitement when Willow joined their group.

"Hi guys." She said softly, looking everyone in the eye.

"Willow, what are you doing here-band proper is over there!" Her brother snapped cruelly.

"I'm not here for band proper. I want to be in drumline like you." Willow said, looking at her brother with big innocent eyes.

"Get. Out. Of. Here. Now." Ben growled with teeth clenched. The drumline captain Luke came over and separated them.

"Brooks, if she wants to be in drumline, then she can be in drumline. What do you have against her anyway?"

"She's my sister!" Ben cried. "I don't want her here!" Willow's face fell. The only other girl on the line, a snare drummer by the name of Ginny, came over.

"What's your problem Brooks?" She said angrily. Ginny had seen enough male-female prejudice on the line to know that this poor girl was going to be seeing a lot of it this year-unfortunally it looked like it would be from her brother. "What's your name?" She asked the redhead kindly.

"Willow." She said softly, her head bowed. Ginny's heart went out to the freshman.

"Willow, I'm Ginny, and I'm center snare. You and I are going to be pretty close, I can tell." Ginny said, giving the younger girl a smile. Willow weakly returned the gesture. Ben looked furious, but couldn't get another word in since the drum major whistled for quiet.

Willow's freshman year was tough. Ben refused flat out to drive her to band practice, so every practice Ginny drove her. Ginny stepped in as older sibling and treated Willow with love as if she really were her younger sister. The rest of the Line loved Willow. She was kind and sweet and whenever someone on the Line had a birthday; Willow would bake something for them. The boys on the Line also respected her for her talent. They realized that she was good within the first practices, and although she had to march bass drum for her first outdoor season, there was a rumor going around that she would be moved up to the snare line for the indoor season.

Ben did everything he could to bring his sister down. He ridiculed her to the point where she was near tears. He hid her mallets and made her beg for them back. He even went so far as to remove the rims from her bass and mess with her harness. With an evil gleam in his eye he watched his sister struggle.

* * *

Come indoor, the rest of the Line had a meeting without the Brooks siblings.

"We've got to do something about this." Ginny said. She had never liked Ben and was disgusted by his behavior. The rest of the Line nodded. "He treats her like dirt and why? Because she's better then him!"

"She's so nice too…I don't know why anyone would ever hate her!" The fourth bass, Gavin said. "She's not like most girls. Willow's special."

"Guys something has to be done. Ben's been terrible to her, and she just puts up with it!" The boys on the Line nodded.

"Look, Ginny you take Willow out and hang with her for a day okay? I think it's time that the guys have a sit down with Benny. The only reason that you guys shouldn't be there is because I don't want you two to get hurt. Somehow I get the feeling he's not going to like what we have to tell him." Luke said.

"When should I take her?" Ginny asked.

"As soon as possible. Ben's attitude is disgusting. I want this resolved before indoor or we'll never have a shot at anything." Luke said. The Line nodded solemnly.

A few days later, Ginny took Willow to the mall on the basis of needing 'girl time'. The boys of the Line were taking Ben out to have a little chat. The boys met at the Applebee's not far from the school-a favorite hang out for the band kids. After eating, the boys went outside. Luke had thought it might be a good idea to take Ben outside to talk to him because they honestly didn't know how he was going to take it.

"Alright Brooks, the reason we called you here without the girls is because we have to discuss something." Luke began.

"With indoor starting soon we have to have a unified Line or we'll get nowhere." Rob, a fellow snare said.

"And that means that you have to start treating your sister like the human she is!" Gavin finished. Ben stared at them for a moment. The anger and shock was apparent on his face.

"You don't know what she's done to me." He said.

"So what if you sister is a good drummer! That doesn't mean you can treat her like dirt!"

"You try always being compared to your little sister. Everywhere I go-I'm supposed to be the better one! I taught her everything she knows! I get no respect!" Ben yelled. His face was red with fury. "I won't be on the same Line as her!"

"Then leave. Leave what you've spent years doing just because you can't get over the fact that your sister is a good drummer." Luke challenged, hoping Ben would see reason.

He was wrong.

Ben stormed over to his car, grabbed his drumline jacket and his sticks and threw them at Luke's feet.

"I quit." With a final angry glare, Ben pealed out of the parking lot and sped off.

* * *

That was the last anyone ever saw of Ben Brooks. He hit a wet spot on the drive home and sped off the road. He died on impact. Ginny was there when Willow got the call. She never liked Ben, but she couldn't imagine what the younger girl was going through. Her father withdrew even more into himself and Ginny took it upon herself to make sure Willow was doing okay. Willow practically lived at Ginny's house. Willow and Ginny would be close for the rest of their lives.

The Line didn't expect Willow to show up at the first indoor practice. But there she was, looking happier than she had been in weeks. Luke grabbed the freshman's arm after practice.

"Your brother left this to us before he died…I think he would have wanted you to have it." This was a complete lie of course; Luke knew deep down that Ben would have probably been throwing a hissy fit if he saw what Luke was doing. He handed over Ben's snare sticks and his drumline jacket. The girl seemed touched. She hugged Luke tightly.

"Thank you." Willow fingered the sticks delicately and knew that they were meant for her. The sticks seemed to have a magical, comforting feeling to them. She knew she could survive now. The sticks reminded her of her brother in a good way. They reminded her of the older brother who taught her how to play when she was just a tiny second grader.

Willow Brooks and the Sycamore Falls indoor drumline went to Championship weekend in Wildwood that year with a show dedicated to Ben. The show took home top honors at the show and Willow knew that she would have made Ben proud finally. Willow made the snare line and was even given a solo. Every time she performed it she dedicated it to her brother. She knew that her brother was just jealous when really he didn't have to be. She was the same girl she had been when she was little. She still loved and looked up to her older brother to this very day.

When Willow looked back on her life, now as a middle aged married woman, she knew that her brother was around her every day. Her life as a professional musician led her to write music for movies, television and for different bands. It was all for Ben. It had always been for Ben.

* * *

_A/N-I hoped you guys like it…it came out very differently than from what I had in my head…please review! I want to know what you guys thought of this. Thanks for reading!!_

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